Chain propeller for boats.



N. IVI. BUMPUS.

CHAIN PROPELLER FOR BOATS.

APPucATloNmEu sEPLz. 1945.

Patented June 20, 1916.

-3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Tm: coLUMmA vLANoaRApH co., wASHxNGToN, D. c.

N. VI. BUIVIPUS.

CHAIN PROPELLER FOR BOATS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2. 191s.

Patented June 20, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Y IIIIIIIII I+II .lill IL gag@ THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0., WASHINaToN.D. c.

N. M. BUMPUS. CHAIN PROPELLER FOR BOATS.

` APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2, 1915.

Patented June 2o, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- lldl. i

NATHAN M. BUMPUS, 0F CURTICE, OHIO.

CHAIN PROJPELLER BOATS.

...vm-m

Application filed September 2, 1915.

' 10 all whom t may concern.'

Be it lnown that I, NATHAN M. BUnPUs, citizen of the United States,residing at Cui-tice, in the county of Ottawa and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Chain Propellers forBoats, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in ships and moreparticularly to ships embodying continuous chain propellers, the primaryobject of my invention being the provision of a ships hull having araceway extending longitudinally and centrally of the bottom of the shipfor the endless chain propeller so constructed that the blades of thepropeller'do not enter the water until they have reached their lowermostpoint of movement and are, therefore, vertical.

A further object of my invention consists in providing sprocket wheelsof such size, and a propeller chain having` links of such lengths, thatthe blades will be inclined at an angle, when leaving the water, untilthey have passed above the water level and will, therefore, not raiseany water into the raceway through which the blades move.

In this connection, a still further object of my invention consists inproviding means for permitting escape of 'water from the raceway shouldany be raised into it as might occur when the boat was backing.

A. still further object of my invention consists in providinglongitudinal guides along the sides of the raceway to support the upperand lower stretches of the propeller chain and insure proper movement ofthe chain and blades.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fullydescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and thenspecifically pointed out in the claim which is attached to andv forms apart of this application. p

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a ship hull constructedin accordance with my invention, parts being broken away to disclose theraceway and propeller mechanism; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the shipwith part of the bow broken away to disclose the propeller mechanismwhich is shown in transverse vertical. section; Fig. 3 is a fragmentaryperspective view of a portion of the propeller chain and of the guidesalong which it travels; Fig. a is a view cor- Specification of LettersPatent.

ian-,einen .inne se,

Serial No. 48,672.

responding to Fig. 1, showing a slightly modified form of drivemechanism construction, particularly for boats having a deep draft. Y

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

ln the embodiment of my invention, as illustrated in the drawings, 1()indicates the hull of the vessel which may be of any usual or preferredtype, with the exception of such modifications as are necessary for thevtype of driving .mechanism which I employ. As best shown in Figs. l and2 of the drawings, the bottoni of the hull is provided with a centrallyand vertically disposed, longitudinally extending raceway 11 terminatingat its ends adjacent the bow and stern of the hull. Near the lowerportion of this raceway, the sides of the hull are connected by a hollowpartition 12 terminating at its` ends in slightly spaced relation to theends of the raceway and provid- Ving a substantially rectangular chamber13 ccmmunicating at its sides with the interior of the ship hull itselfand therefore capable of receiving merchandise, whereby the carryingcapacity of the vessel is not 'The bottom of the hull, at the bow, isprovided with a rearwardly directed extension 18 spaced below the truebottom of the boat and extending rearwardly to a point somewhat behindthe forward end of the partition 12, being closed at its bottom andsides but open at its rear end and forming in effect a continuation ofthe circular space or chamber 17 at the forward end of the vessel.

A drive shaft 19, journaled in suitable bearings 20 mounted within thehull of the vessel and at opposite sides of the raceway 11, extendstransversely of the circular space 17 at the rear end of the raceway andsubstantially centrally thereof. Power from any Vsuitable source may betransmitted to this Vdrive shaft by arbelt 21 passed about a pulley22uponl one endof the shaft or by means of Ya train; of gearing, apitman rod and crank;` armor any other equivalent mechanism,aspreferred.' lVithin the raceway this' drive' shaft carriesspacedfsprocket wheels-23 ofequal diameter and having the same number ofteeth correspondingly arranged. A similar shaft 24 1s correspondinglymounted in the forward circular space 17 and within the raceway isprovided with spaced sprocket wheels 25 identical in construction andsize with thefsprocket wheels A 23. ,These latter sprocket vwheelsmay,fhow

gever, beloosely ymounted to turn upon the e shaft 241V and thelatterxed in its bearings 25,isthe endless drive chain, indicated asav`*or may vberkeyed-upon the shaft and the` kshaft journaled to rotate inits bearings.

Trained aboutthe sprocket wheels 23 and wholeV by the numeral 2 6, theupper and f lower stretches of which run in the passage 116 and channel15, respectively, of the raceway-11.VV This chain propeller or drivingchain'includes Vparallel series of; links 27 con- Apivotally. connectedto form an endless vfasf chain. The endsof Ytheshafts extend beyond theouter 'faces ofthe links 27 and thel f chann'el'l5V and passageway 16are provided V*engage 'against the outer faces of the sprocket wheels:23 and 25V and are held at either-side with longitudinally extending`uideway's 29 Ll-shaped in cross section to oringuide Ychannels toreceive the ends of the shafts. The links 27 are so spaced as tofagainst outward -movement'toward the ends of the shafts 28 by collars3Q or other suitable means. It will of course Vbe appreciated that,.theserlinks are of Vsuch length that the teeth of the sprocket-wheelswill successivelyV engagesuccessive shafts of the chain 1n suchV amanner that driving o f the sprocket wheels` Y k 5o 23`1will cause acontinuous movement of the jchain about the frontV Yand rear ,sprocket iwheels. Preferably, these links are relaftivelylong and the sprocketwheelsuare provided Vwith correspondingly Vfew teeth, the

wheelsjshown in the drawings each having lfour teeth vto engage theshafts 28 of the chain,in "the` manner shown. This chain t Vcarries aplurality of transversely extending propeller blades31, eachl of whichlis Yprovided at its-inner edge with spaced collars 32 for attachment tothe'shafts 28. vPrefer- Y `ably,thesepropeller VbladesV are'secured to 1alternate shafts-.as clearly indicated in the drawings-in sucha mannerthat when the .section of chain carryingthem is in a .hori- .-water intosuch portion.

zontal position, the blades extend vertically. Braces 33k are connectedby eyes 34 to thc central outer portions of the rear faces of the bladesand at their opposite ends are formed with sleeves 35 which surround theintermediate portions of adjacent shafts 28. It will, therefore, be seen4that these propeller blades are held against any angular movementrelative to the links connecting the shaft upon whichV the blade ismounted and the shaft to which its brace is connected. y Thesev bladesextend substantially the full width of the raceway .11 and are of suchlength as to just clear the outer walls of such raceway when the chainis in movement. llt-will of course be understood that their inner edgesat the ends are cut-away, as shown .at 3G toV cleary the links andguides 29.

- From the foregoing description, the operation of my improved endlesschain pro- '.peller will be readily understood. Assuming that power isapplied to the shaft 19 to turnit in a. counterclockwise direction,looking at it from the direction in which it is shown in Fig. 1, theupper stretch of the .chain will be moved forwardly through the passage16, while the lower stretch of the chain will be moved rearwardlythrough the channel 15, its blades 31 projecting below the bottom of thevessel and into the water. This forcing of these blades through thewater will, of course, due to the resistance of the water, force thevessel ahead. It should be noted that by providing the extension 18, theblades in passing about the sprocket wheels 25 will reach a verticalposition before they meet the water as the successive passage of theblades through the extended portion 18 will prevent entrance of Ofcourse, if the boat is ybeing driven backward, the movement of the chain`about the sprockets will -beV reversed and water will be drawn inthrough the extension 18. This water can, however, escape back throughthe circular chamber at the forward end of the boat and will not,therefore, How through the passage 16. It should be further Anoted atthis point; that the chain. links are so proportioned with y respect tothe side of the sprockets, over which they operate, that the propellerblades,as they pass upwardly through the circular space 17 at the rearofthe boat, will passpabove the .water line before they reach a horizontalposition and will not, therefore, draw water into the passage 16.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings, I have illustrated a construction which isidentical with that previouslyv described with but one exception. Thisconstruction is intended for use with vessels having a relatively deepdraft and merely consists in enlarging the vend chambers 37 whichcorrespond to the may be positioned below the sprockets 23 and 25 toproperly bring the lower stretch of the chain below the bottoni of theboat and still permit the drive chain 19 to be sufficiently elevated inthe boat for convenient application of power. As the increasing in sizeof these chambers and the provision of the rollers, whichv are idlymounted upon shafts 39 are the only changes in construction, no furtherdescription of this form is necessary. It might be well to note,however, that the parts shown in this figure, where they correspond withthe form shown in the previous figures are given the same referencenumerals.

Although I have illustrated and described my invention 'withconsiderable detail, it will of course be understood that the pr0-peller chain may be made in many different ways and power transmitted tothe chain in many different ways. For this reason l do not wish to belimited to suoli details but reserve the right to make various minorchanges, within the scope of the appended claim, without in theslightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what' is claimed as new is:

In ship construction, a hull formed with a. longitudinal raceway openingthrough its bottom, sprocket wheels at the front and rear ends of theraeeway, means for imparting power to one of the sprocket wheels, anendless chain trained about the sprocket wheels and carrying propellerblades, and means for keeping water from the blades as they pass aboutthe forward sprocket wheel until they have assumed a vertical position,said means including,- a rearward extension formed upon the bottomforward portion 'of the hull and projecting horizontally throughout itslength, opening at a point at the rear of the forward sprocket wheel.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature.

NATHAN M. BUMPUs. [L a] Copies of this patent may be obtained for vecents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Intenta, Wanihlnmon, E).C.

